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Lydenburg
('town of suffering') occupies a special place in the history of the Transvaal.
It was founded in 1850 by the company of Voortrekker leader Andries Potgieter
who abandoned their first settlement of Andries -Ohrigstad 50km to the north.
This had proved a suicidal site owing to the scourge of the Lowveld in those
days - the ubiquitous malaria mosquito. Lydenburg
was one of several republics established in the Transvaal because of dissention
among the early Voortrekker leaders about the political destiny of their
followers north of the Vaal River. In 1856 Lydenburg seceded from the Transvaal
Republic with headquarters in Potchefstroom, and, in the following year, joined
the Republic of Utrecht. In 1860 both these republics rejoined the Transvaal
Republic. Lydenburg also played an important role in the early attempts by
Transvaalers to find a route to Delagoa Bay and a port free of British control.
On 6 February 1873 alluvial gold was discovered in the district by several
prospectors and the Lydenburg goldfields were proclaimed three months later.
Among the first finds were two large nuggets: Emma( 765kg) and Adeliza (737kg),
both bought by President TF Burgers. Today the gravels of the Spekboom River are
still being washed for alluvial gold. During
the Transvaal's first war against Britian (1880 - 81) a British garrison under
Lt. WH Long was stationed at Lydenburg. They build a small fort named Mary in
honour of the commanding officer's wife. It was from this fort that Lt.
Anstruther and the 94th Regiment marched to Pretoria to join the main British
forces there . They never reached their destination. Meanwhile the remainder of
the garrison at Lydenburg were besieged in the front in a manner that suggested
that neither side really wanted a war. To counter the two small field guns used
by the Transvaalers, the British fashioned a gun of their own from a water
barrel of a water pump which managed to hurl cannon balls of 1kg at the enemy.
After the war the fort fell into a state of dilapidation and in 1889 some of
it's stones were used to build a powder magazine which still stands. Among
the exhibits of the local museum are replicas of the seven terracotta 'Lydenburg
heads' found in the valley of the Sterkspruit and dating to the 5th century. Six
of the heads are human and the seventh is some kind of animal replica. ::
Long
Tom Pass 
This
road links Lydenburg on the Drakensberg plateau with Sabie on the escarpment,
and is one of the most spectacular highways in the country and its summit (2
150m) is one of the highest points reached by a major road. The
main obstacle along the route was the Drakensberg. In 1871, at the behest of
President TF Burgers, the Transvaal Volksraad for the construction of the
road over this formidable barrier to the sea. The contract was awarded to
Abraham Espag and most of the work was done by pick and shovel. The first wagons
to use the new road, which followed the route of the old hawepad in many
places, arrived in Lydenburg from Delagoa Bay in 1874. The
pass used today was opened on 22 July 1953. At the same time it was given the
name Long Tom to commemorate a famous skirmish between the Boers and British
along this road in September 1900. Parts or the old road are signposted along
the new pass, which was tarred in 1964. At Die Geut ( the gutter), ruts
can be seen in the slate. These were scored by the locked wheels of the heavily
laden wagons when they were slid down the steep gradient. Also signposted, among
others, is Whiskyspruit, whose water was reputedly so good that it made an
excellent drink regardless of the quality of the whisky!
Search
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